Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1170309
16 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 SEPTEMBER 2019 INTERVIEW There is a perception that traditional Maltese agriculture is being phased out: with fewer people taking up the profession, more farming land lost to development, more competition from foreign products… how true is this perception? Is agriculture a dying trade? There are two aspects to this issue: one is that agriculture is a really difficult profession. This is something no one can deny: I'd be lying to you if I claimed it is 'easy'. There's nothing easy about it at all. But the other aspect is that there is also a deeply pessimistic, ingrained attitude towards agriculture, even among people who work in the sector. When I go abroad, for in- stance – to both urban and ru- ral destinations – I am always impressed by how they manage to create quality products out of practically nothing. We have the potential to do the same thing here… not just because our produce is of high qual- ity, but also because foreign- ers love coming to Malta. For all our negativism towards our country – I myself sometimes ask what tourists see in Malta in the first place – the fact re- mains that foreigners go crazy about Malta. Not just the sun and the sea… but also our food, our fresh fruit and vegetables, etc. So why are we not capitalis- ing on this, by investing in our niche products and services for tourists? To be fair, some people are being inventive and creative. There are some young farmers who are working to preserve typical local products, and teaming up with a network of local restaurant chefs. So there are young people who are going against the odds: saying, 'this is what we have; so let's see how to make the best of it.' And I think that, with today's tools – social media, and the demand that exists for genuine local products – there is a lot of room for innovation. But we have to move away from our habit of always com- plaining. Yes, it's true that the authorities are not giving agri- culture the importance it de- serves. That's a fact. But at the same time, it's not a doomsday scenario, either… On the subject of the authorities not giving agriculture its due: Malta has traditionally always had a Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, but this has changed. We now haveonly a parliamentary secretary within a larger ministry. Did this have any impact on the sector? What a sore point you brought up there! Yes, of course it had an im- pact. The minute we had a par- liamentary secretary instead of a minister was the beginning of the end. Agriculture lost its priority. Ninu Zammit was the last Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries; following that, it was downhill all the way. But there are other institu- tional problems: especially re- garding EU funds, which are not in the remit of the agri- cultural departments, but fall under the EU funds ministry. The scope may have been to have good governance; but the repercussions were very nega- tive in many other respects. Not least, because bureaucracy increased as a result. Mean- while, even agriculture educa- tional institutions have ceased to exist on their own merit. At the University and MCAST, institutes previously dedicated to agriculture have become a section of something else… just like the ministry, in fact. It seems that institutions are now afraid of even saying the word 'agriculture'… Road widening and infrastructural projects also often take priority over agriculture. The Central Link project alone will eat into 40,000sq.m of agricultural land. Is this another indication of agriculture losing its priority? Let me put it this way: Malta's total agricultural land amounts to 11,450 hectares… just a ti- ny fraction of what other EU countries have available. Every single patch of it counts: also because – let's face it – agri- cultural land is the only green lung left, on an island as over- populated as Malta. To lose even a tumolo, is to lose a lot. So 40,000sq.m is quite a large chunk. Having said this, I am not against infrastructural projects – even the Malta Youth and Agriculture Foundation, that I represent, is not against such projects. On the contrary: we agree that our infrastructure needs to be improved. Nobody wants to live in a country where the roads are full of potholes. But when we talk about such large areas being gobbled up for urban sprawl, or new roads… I think we need to be a bit more careful and sensi- tive. I'm not saying this project isn't necessary; but have we ex- hausted all the options? I don't think we have. I think that ag- riculture is being forfeited too easily in such projects. The attitude seems to be: if there are farmers on the land, we just pay them the worth of the plot… and that's it. Give them a sum of money to shut their mouths… and say goodbye. I don't think that's a healthy at- titude, myself. This brings us to something you mentioned when you addressed last week's 'Enough is enough' protest: i.e., that farmers are being pressured to sign 'konvenji' by developers. Can you elaborate? The fact that farmers are ap- proached by estate agents is no news to the rural community. In fact, I was very surprised that so many journalists picked up on that. If you go to plac- es like Bahrija… Manikata… Mgarr… Mqabba… Hal Safi… these are all villages that were previously just a handful of old houses built around a church. Today, there is a chance you won't even recognise some of them anymore. Bahrija, in particular, has been developed beyond recognition in the last 10 years alone. When you look at all the new apartment blocks that have been built on the out- skirts of these tiny villages… what was that land before? It was all fields. So what hap- pened? Someone will have seen an opportunity to make money out of a plot of land bordering a road… so they approach the landowner, buy out the ten- ant farmer, etc. This is nothing new… True, but that doesn't necessarily amount to 'pressure', either. What if the farmers want to be bought out? There are different types of pressure. Land tenureship is in itself a very complicated issue, and farmers are often caught up in the middle of a tangled web. Basically, there are three forms of tenureship: 'raba tal- gvern', whereby farmers pay a relatively low rent (il-qbiela) for government-owned land. In this system, the government reserves the right to expropri- ate that land for infrastructural projects. Then there's 'raba tas-sin- jur'... where the land is owned by a land owner, to whom farmers pay rent. There is also Malta's agricultural sector faces unprecedented threat- levels from foreign competition and land-use issues. But 'Malta Youth in Agriculture' founder JEANETTE BORG argues that there is still hope for the future of local farming, if we adopt a more realistic, innovative approach The last farmer at Wied Raphael Vassallo Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt